I can't help but feel shocks and appalled at the actions of the the Republican GOP in several states, as well as in the Federal Government. They were voted in because people were unhappy with the Democrats, but within the last month, the Republican GOP seems out to destroy everything in its past, whether it is helpful or not. I would have written a blog post about this some time ago, but every week, a new shocker is in the news about what they want or are doing. I can barely keep up, let along wrap my head around it. Here's just a small list of what I have seen within one month of observing:
--South Dakota seeks to expand permissive killing to include the motive to protect an unborn baby, regardless of the age or health of the baby/fetus and/or the mother. In other words, this could include a miscarrying mother that needs an abortion to save an already dead or dying baby. Doctor tries to save the mother, he gets the knife in the back by a "upstanding citizen." Seriously?
--Georgia seeks to have an investigation board solely based to investigate supposed miscarriages of ANY kind to see if they were true miscarriages, or abortion attempts. This ignores the science that the majority of miscarriages happen in the first trimester and that surgery to remove the dead fetus from a miscarriage leaves the same scars as an abortion. What happened to innocent until proven guilty, or even the right to privacy?
--Indiana and Wisconsin have moved for anti-union bills. While this is limited to teachers and other government employees, this is shocking. Unions were designed to protect from exploitation by companies, businesses and so on. Do you want children working in mines again? OH WAIT!!
--Maine and Missouri are seeking to revoke all child labor restrictions, designed to keep underage children from working too many hours so they can do well in school. This will also allow them to work LONG hours in businesses with overnight hours, like hotels and 24-hour restaurants. The limit is already 16 in most states, which is fine. I can see the benefit in letting kids choose their own responsibilities, but look at the kids nowadays. 16-year-olds generally are barely responsible. Just shows that representatives don't represent kids at all since they don't even know them.
--Kansas seeks to resurrect defunct law to make consensual homosexuality a jailable criminal offense, no exceptions. They keep trying evidentially despite the Kansas Supreme Court striking down each attempt because it is unconstitutional. Makes sense. Jailing homosexuals makes as much sense as jailing people born on February 29th, and there are millions of those.
--Minnesota is moving to make it illegal for citizens on welfare to carry more then $20 in their wallets at any times. WHY!?
That's just a nutshell. I didn't vote for these nutbag Tea Partiers, but they are flying under a lying flag. Let's compare, shall we?
Boston Tea Party, 1773
--Outraged citizens attacked the HMS Dartmouth
--Destroyed an entire shipment of tea, but ONLY the tea
--Swept the ships of tea leaves. They cleaned up their mess! I wish all protesters were like that.
--They did it because Parliament was forcing them to accept the tea regardless of colonial embargoes on the tea, thanks to the Tea Act.
Nowadays
--Outraged politicians attack...well...everything.
--Seek to destroy job security, health welfare, the middle class, anything Obama is out to help.
--Leave nothing to replace the supposed messed up laws, only leave wreckage of a bill
--The only motivation is political, no matter what the voters say.
I've already washed my hands of the Republican party. They have betrayed the voters for the last time. I'll be at the polls next time, and I'll be out to VOTE THEM OUT!!
[breathes heavily.]
On a much lighter note, here's some great photos. Mother told me not to play with my food, but this guy can play as much as he wants.
Have a great day, people.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Ripples Into Waves
It's been way too long since I updated this thing. You can blame an extremely busy semester this past fall, and a lot has happened, even outside the academic world.
The semester itself was a trial, sweating to make sure my grades would be passable for graduation, which is quickly coming up. Being a student director was additional pressure, particularly when earning respect from my actors and even other directors to take things seriously. It was an uphill battle. Even after finishing well, I still feel like I didn't get everything that I needed done for the class. Big surprise, I'm a student director this year. Thankfully, this is a look on more of the theory and methodology then the actual system of directing. Should hopefully be better this time around. Only time will tell. On a more positive note, being cast and performing in Ken Ludwig's Treasure Island was definitely the coolest highlight of the past semester.
Also, as my final semester draws ever closer to a close, I have to be ready for the next step and quickly. As of right now, I'm moving to Jefferson City, MO to settle down and work on getting an income to move on to the next step, assuming all goes well on my end.
Yet even with all that, the previous semester and this semester has been dwarfed by a probably the most significant of all: the passing away of my beloved mother. I haven't talked about her in this blog--or much anywhere else for that matter--as it mostly was a personal matter. However, many people have learned about her and have expressed their sympathies. To be frank, I'm glad she died now then later. Don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying that I wanted her dead. I miss her, and I constantly dream about her, reliving the memories of her during the past 23 years of my life. What I mean is that she suffered greatly during the last few months of her life, particularly in the last month. I had returned home for Thanksgiving Break and found Mom unable to walk without assistance. Her legs had swollen to twice their normal size because of severe edema as a part of her being unable to walk and stand, and her voice had become so quiet that I could barely hear her. Either years prior, she had been diagnosed with astrocytoma, which is a generally common brain cancer--common to brain cancers anyway. The fact she survived eight years (seven years in remission) was a miracle of it own. Only within the last year was their decline.
She was ready to go, and I'm glad she died now then later so she wouldn't have to suffer anymore. Had she lived for another six months, she would have become a vegetable. However, the most significant impact was the impact she made in her relatively short life. I would think being raised by her I would have noticed some of the stuff she did. It wasn't until the funeral just after the New Year did I see the impact she made. Thirty minutes before the funeral started, the church was pact and there were two overflows into the so-called fellowship hall and the nursery. To give you an idea on how many people that is, the sanctuary can hold a full crowd of 264 people if every person took a seat in the sitting areas. Add ten to the stage behind the podium, twenty to the nursery in their own seats, and dozens more into the fellowship hall. Most of the people I didn't even know, while a great many were names of the past. Mom was only fifty years old when she died, and she impacted nearly 400 lives that would fit into that church. Needless to say, I was blown away.
If there was anything I learned all the stronger, it was that no matter how we live, we impact someone, somewhere, and the numbers we impact will always be much larger then we can realize. I've always said to my peers that whatever they do, it impacts others profoundly. Drop a stone into a lake, and eventually, the ripples will make it to the other side. Yet as much as I say that, I was still naive in how much it impacts. Mom still had things for me to learn, even after death. This was one lesson that I won't forget anytime soon, if at all.
Thank you, Mom.
The semester itself was a trial, sweating to make sure my grades would be passable for graduation, which is quickly coming up. Being a student director was additional pressure, particularly when earning respect from my actors and even other directors to take things seriously. It was an uphill battle. Even after finishing well, I still feel like I didn't get everything that I needed done for the class. Big surprise, I'm a student director this year. Thankfully, this is a look on more of the theory and methodology then the actual system of directing. Should hopefully be better this time around. Only time will tell. On a more positive note, being cast and performing in Ken Ludwig's Treasure Island was definitely the coolest highlight of the past semester.
Also, as my final semester draws ever closer to a close, I have to be ready for the next step and quickly. As of right now, I'm moving to Jefferson City, MO to settle down and work on getting an income to move on to the next step, assuming all goes well on my end.
Yet even with all that, the previous semester and this semester has been dwarfed by a probably the most significant of all: the passing away of my beloved mother. I haven't talked about her in this blog--or much anywhere else for that matter--as it mostly was a personal matter. However, many people have learned about her and have expressed their sympathies. To be frank, I'm glad she died now then later. Don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying that I wanted her dead. I miss her, and I constantly dream about her, reliving the memories of her during the past 23 years of my life. What I mean is that she suffered greatly during the last few months of her life, particularly in the last month. I had returned home for Thanksgiving Break and found Mom unable to walk without assistance. Her legs had swollen to twice their normal size because of severe edema as a part of her being unable to walk and stand, and her voice had become so quiet that I could barely hear her. Either years prior, she had been diagnosed with astrocytoma, which is a generally common brain cancer--common to brain cancers anyway. The fact she survived eight years (seven years in remission) was a miracle of it own. Only within the last year was their decline.
She was ready to go, and I'm glad she died now then later so she wouldn't have to suffer anymore. Had she lived for another six months, she would have become a vegetable. However, the most significant impact was the impact she made in her relatively short life. I would think being raised by her I would have noticed some of the stuff she did. It wasn't until the funeral just after the New Year did I see the impact she made. Thirty minutes before the funeral started, the church was pact and there were two overflows into the so-called fellowship hall and the nursery. To give you an idea on how many people that is, the sanctuary can hold a full crowd of 264 people if every person took a seat in the sitting areas. Add ten to the stage behind the podium, twenty to the nursery in their own seats, and dozens more into the fellowship hall. Most of the people I didn't even know, while a great many were names of the past. Mom was only fifty years old when she died, and she impacted nearly 400 lives that would fit into that church. Needless to say, I was blown away.
If there was anything I learned all the stronger, it was that no matter how we live, we impact someone, somewhere, and the numbers we impact will always be much larger then we can realize. I've always said to my peers that whatever they do, it impacts others profoundly. Drop a stone into a lake, and eventually, the ripples will make it to the other side. Yet as much as I say that, I was still naive in how much it impacts. Mom still had things for me to learn, even after death. This was one lesson that I won't forget anytime soon, if at all.
Thank you, Mom.
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